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Primitive Technology: Flywheel blower smelt/Monsoon begins

🕑 Added 2025-02-06 21:34:23 +0000 UTC

Comments

Primitive Technology

I did a re-useable charcoal mound where the wood was stacked horizontally as it's easier to stack and really pack the wood in. The reason I stack it in a cone for the non-reusable mound is that the mud conforms to the shape of the cone once it's built as opposed to in a reusable mound where the wood must fit the already built cylinder of mud. It's easier to fill a cylinder with horizontal layers of wood rather than vertical logs. For temporary mounds you could stack the wood horizontally first (I started it this way in this video), but then you would need to make the rest into a mound shape so that the mud stays in place after the wood burns away. I could use bricks to make a mound and have considered it but it uses up bricks. I might try one in future. Much appreciated.

Julian Gonggrijp

If I remember correctly, a while ago you showed a charcoal mount in which the wood was stacked horizontally instead of vertically. In your captions, you wrote about this having some advantages (maybe it was less effort or maybe it stacked more tightly, don't remember right now). It seems you went back to vertical, why was that? Other question: why don't you use bricks to build your charcoal mounds?

Tenthtwo

I'm not sure if it's what you're into, but I'd really be interested in a collaboration with clickspring, he may have some ancient mechanisms or technologies you could use! I know he is Australian too :). Excellent video as always.

Robert Walter

Ah cool, thank you. I'm familiar with how candlenut leaves feel.

Primitive Technology

Thanks. The way I make the tinder bundle is to crush up candle nut leaves that grow in the forest here: See video here: https://youtu.be/z9n9rqb-lvY?t=42 . There are lots of different types of tinder that can be found everywhere but this is the type I use because it's always close to hand. Before I used candlenut leaves I either used dry grass in open woodland or dry leaf skeletons if in closed forest. Much appreciated.

Robert Walter

Excellent as always. I might just be forgetting, but have you shown us how you make the tinder bundle that you put the little coal in? I feel like that's quite an important part of the process.

Primitive Technology

The roof beams started making a cracking noise as the bark split and steamed out. At the old hut I had a problem with termites that wouldn't go away until I started doing smelts in the hut. The fires dried out the roof beams and the termites stopped eating the wood as they need moisture to feed. Thanks.

Primitive Technology

I tried smelting at home with the same primitive equipment but using iron oxide sold at bunnings as cement colourant (iron oxide red it was sold as). It produced far more iron with nearly no slag. It needed to be mixed with cornflour as a reductant and binder though. I used an angle grinder to do a spark test and it was shiny and metallic as well as heavy and strongly magnetic. It was porous though and would need forging.

Mario Stoilov

Nice video as always. A question comes to mind: Seeing the furnace go all the way to the roof, and seeing flames shoot out of the furnace towards the roof that is supported by wooden beams, isn't that a fire hazard?

Kenneth Crips

Now if you could only find better ore to smelt with.

Primitive Technology

If it does, I'll make a video about it.

Kiteman24

I hope the cyclones don't ruin any projects you have in mind.

Primitive Technology

Thanks Amy. Yes that's right, less smoke, but out of frame of the camera. Thanks.

Amy Tobol

Thanks for the firemaking closeup! If you hold your tinder bundle higher than your head, will you get less smoke in the face?

Primitive Technology

Thanks, the new journal bearing should work well. I'll test it when it dries out a bit.

Morten Bjerkvig Jølnæs

Great to see progress on sustained blowing while smelting, bad luck with the rotor falling out of the bearing. Would it make sense to pursue some sort of opening solution for the bottom of the furnace so you can reuse the same furnace many times? Seems like a lot of work goes into rebuilding it quite often. I think the tall furnace has a lot of potential due to better draft and fewer breaks to fill up. Excited to see more about the water powered projects!